The Pros and Cons of Hiring One-Stop Shops vs. Multiple Specialists for Book Publicity

There are many different services that publicity firms and individual publicity consultants offer to authors looking to promote their books. These services can include any combination of the following:

• Helping you identify your personal brand, your target audience, and your potential reach as an author

• Creating media kits (press releases, fact sheets, Q&As, etc.), distributing press releases on the newswire services, and creating sales pitches targeted to specific markets

• Working with you to fine-tune your website and create the best possible web promotion for your book

• Scheduling book signing and reading events

• Contacting local and national television and radio station producers to set up interviews

• Working with local and national print and online editors to obtain feature coverage

• Setting up speaking engagements at targeted venues

• Placing articles you’ve written in targeted print and online publications

• Helping you identify your strengths as a blogger, so you can capitalize on the blogging community

• Working with you to develop an integrated social media brand image on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and other social media sites

• Setting up blog tours and online author interview opportunities

• Providing guidance on the creation of promotional items (bookstore posters, bookmarks, postcards, tear sheets, business cards, etc.)

• Acting as a sounding board for ideas, helping to answer general questions, and providing guidance on promotional issues

Most publicists feel comfortable doing the majority of the items listed here. Some, however, may specialize in one or more these tasks – there are those, for example, who work only with authors and books in specific content areas; others specialize in scheduling feature interviews with national media; some mainly offer blog tours or set up social media pages, while others specialize in magazine article placement. 

What any publicist does specifically for a client will vary depending on the book’s subject matter, whether the book is fiction or nonfiction, the amount and types of publicity the author is looking for, the author’s platform, and the author’s budget.

So, what should authors consider before hiring a publicist? I suggest thinking about 1) the scope of promotional work you’re looking for, 2) the budget and timeframe for the work, and 3) whether or not you want to hire one publicist to handle everything, or use a number of specialists to handle different aspects of your publicity.

Which brings me to the main question: Which is better, the one-stop shop (hiring one publicist to handle all of the work), or farming out different parts of the publicity work to multiple consultants?

Here are the pros and cons (from a publicist’s point of view) for each option:

The Pros of the One-Stop Shop

-       You get one unified, focused perspective and source of guidance to work with (rather than possibly having to deal with conflicting information and points of view from numerous consultants)

-       You have one contact point for your publicity, which makes it easier for media, speaking venues, readers, etc., to reach you or your publicity contact

-       The person handling your publicity will be able to easily integrate all the aspects of the book’s promotion because s/he is the only one doing so

-       Your branding and all of the publicity information put out about you is consistent, because it comes from one place

-       You may be able to save time on your projects because just one person is handling all of them (rather than having to wait for different people to coordinate/adjust their schedules)

-       You may be able to save on costs by hiring one person whose rates, style, and availability fit your budget and needs

The Cons of the One-Stop Shop

-       The publicist you choose may not handle all of the types of publicity you want to use in your promotional campaign

-       The publicist may not be able to accommodate the timing you want for some of your promotional projects

-       You might want more perspective than just one person’s on your promotional campaign

The Pros of Hiring Multiple/Specialized Publicity Consultants or Firms

-       You can spread out the expertise you need depending on what each publicist/promotional expert offers

-       You can bounce ideas off of multiple experts to see what fits/suites you best

-       If all of your consultants are on the same page, you can use them as a kind of marketing team that works together to help you promote your book

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The Cons of Hiring Multiple/Specialized Publicity Consultants or Firms

-       You can get conflicting information and/or opinions from different PR consultants, which can result in confusion, misunderstandings, and/or discord in your working relationships

-       You can have problems establishing boundaries, especially if some or all of the consultants are used to doing the same thing

-       People looking to contact you or your publicist may have a hard time deciding how to best reach you if there are multiple individuals promoting your work at the same time

-       Your brand may be difficult to manage as a unified image if multiple people are presenting you to the public, or if your consultants aren’t all on the same page

-       You may find it time-consuming to juggle the intricacies of having all the consultants work together efficiently

-       You may be tempted to play one expert off another in the hopes of finding a champion when you don’t agree with one of your consultants, which can result in a breach of trust

-       Your projects may take more time if there are any scheduling conflicts or miscommunication/confusion/misunderstandings among the consultants.

-       It may cost more to hire multiple consultants or firms

There is no right or wrong answer as to whether you should hire just one person for all your publicity needs, or consider using a number of different people with expertise in certain areas. Personally, I prefer to handle all of my client’s publicity – doing so makes it easier to be responsive, provide guidance, and maintain a consistent promotional and brand image. But, I have, on many occasions, worked with other consultants on client projects, and I’ve enjoyed those interactions.

Whichever way you decide to go, it’s crucial to be up-front from the beginning about what you want the individuals you’re hiring to do (rather than spring it on the publicist or team after the work gets going). If more than one consultant or firm will be involved, it’s especially important to be clear on individual assignments, so that each consultant knows what his boundaries are and how his work fits in with that of the other consultants you’re using.